Synonyms for character

Choose the Right Synonym for character

Noun

disposition, temperament, temper, character, personality mean the dominant quality or qualities distinguishing a person or group. disposition implies customary moods and attitude toward the life around one.
a cheerful dispositiontemperament implies a pattern of innate characteristics associated with one's specific physical and nervous organization.
an artistic temperamenttemper implies the qualities acquired through experience that determine how a person or group meets difficulties or handles situations.
a resilient tempercharacter applies to the aggregate of moral qualities by which a person is judged apart from intelligence, competence, or special talents.
strength of characterpersonality applies to an aggregate of qualities that distinguish one as a person.
a somber personality

quality, property, character, attribute mean an intelligible feature by which a thing may be identified. quality is a general term applicable to any trait or characteristic whether individual or generic.
material with a silky qualityproperty implies a characteristic that belongs to a thing's essential nature and may be used to describe a type or species.
the property of not conducting heat character applies to a peculiar and distinctive quality of a thing or a class.
remarks of an unseemly characterattribute implies a quality ascribed to a thing or a being.
the attributes of a military hero

type, kind, sort, nature, description, character mean a number of individuals thought of as a group because of a common quality or qualities. type may suggest strong and clearly marked similarity throughout the items included so that each is typical of the group.
one of three basic body typeskind may suggest natural grouping.
a zoo seemingly having animals of every kindsort often suggests some disparagement.
the sort of newspaper dealing in sensational stories nature may imply inherent, essential resemblance rather than obvious or superficial likenesses.
two problems of a similar naturedescription implies a group marked by agreement in all details belonging to a type as described or defined.
not all acts of that description are actually illegal character implies a group marked by distinctive likenesses peculiar to the type.
research on the subject so far has been of an elementary character

Traits of Character

Character demonstrates that a word may have many and varied meanings and yet still be easily understood by most listeners when used in disparate settings. We have little trouble distinguishing the meanings of the noun in “she had a fine and noble character,” “Bill is always joking; he’s such a character,” and “He was the last character to appear in the play,” not to mention its many other applications.
Character comes ultimately from the Greek charaktēr (“mark, distinctive quality”), which passed through Latin and French before landing in English. The Greek noun itself is derived from the verb charassein, meaning “to sharpen, cut in furrows, or engrave.” The literal sense of the noun (“an engraved or imprinted mark”) existed in Greek, Latin, and French side by side with the figurative one (“a distinctive quality”), and both senses were borrowed into English early on, with a variant of the figurative sense appearing first.

Examples of character in a Sentence

Noun

… this makes everyone believe not only that anyone can be a parent, but also that everyone ought to do it, even those who seem by character or inclination to be ill equipped.— Anna Quindlen, Newsweek, 27 Apr. 2009Someone with Alzheimer's may undergo a regression to a "second childhood," but aspects of one's essential character, of personality and personhood, of self, survive …— Oliver Sacks, Musicophilia, (2007) 2008"Beat" is old carny slang. According to Beat Movement legend (and it is a movement with a deep inventory of legend), Ginsberg and Kerouac picked it up from a character named Herbert Huncke, a gay street hustler and drug addict from Chicago who began hanging around Times Square in 1939 …— Louis Menand, New Yorker, 1 Oct. 2007Slowly, steadily, Och and Chris passed along their knowledge of the characterof various courses, and the way a race evolves tactically.— Lance Armstrong, It's Not About the Bike, (2000) 2001Her character struck the Swede back then as a compound in which you'd find just about everything toxic to desperation and dread. At the core of her he could imagine a nucleus of confidence plaited just as neatly and tightly as her braided hair.— Philip Roth, American Pastoral, 1997
the unique character of the town
The building is very simple in character.
Their house has a lot of character.

Verb

formerly charactered as “the dark ages,” that period of history may not have been quite so benighted as once thought

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'character.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.